Rewilding Education - A Conversation with Prof. Hilary Cremin

The idea of rewilding is now a common topic of conversation in response to the depletion of biodiversity and natural habitats for local wildlife and widespread industrialisation and globalisation of food production. What about if we asked the same question in relation to the industrialised and standardised education system? What would it take to rewild education, as my guest this week asks?

Professor Hilary Cremin has a vision for rewilded healthy education communities and societies that nurture both human and ecological thriving. She is concerned with big questions about the future of education and peace building, and is author of the recently published 'Rewilding Education: Rethinking the Place of Schools Now and in the Future' (Routledge, 2025) - https://www.routledge.com/Rewilding-Education-Rethinking-the-Place-of-Schools-Now-and-in-the-Future/Cremin/p/book/9781041043157.

Hilary is the Head of the Faculty of Education at Cambridge University and researches, writes and teaches about peace education and conflict transformation in schools and communities. Hilary is also the co-founder of and senior advisor to the Cambridge Peace Education Research Group. CPERG (https://www.cperg.org/) offers seminars in Cambridge and online, as well as providing resources on their website for those interested in peace education research and practice.

Hilary was former Director of the Social Inclusion and Education for Citizenship Academic Research Group at the School of Education, University of Leicester, UK. She has an interest in arts-based methodologies in educational research including photo-voice, poetry and autoethnography. She continues to be involved in the promotion and delivery of conflict transformation and peace-building work in schools and communities, and has a particular interest in Restorative Approaches.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-cremin-77513724/